Posts made in January, 2016
Sesame St S5: Bert and Ernie, Etc.
And now we finally come to our last day of clips from Season 5, nearly all of this batch revolving around Sesame Street‘s own dynamic duo, Bert and Ernie.
The first is called “TV Repair,” and it’s actually a twist on a Season 1 sketch we watched, in which Bert and Ernie’s TV would display nothing but the letter A, until Bert encourages to Ernie to reach into the back of the set, where he pulls out a bunch of items that begin with “A” that somehow seem to have gotten stuck inside the set. Once everything’s out, the set seems fixed, until it starts blaring the letter “B” instead, but Ernie actually seems to like it, so they leave it. This later sketch is basically a straight-up remake, however instead of Ernie attempting to watch TV, it’s Bert, whose favorite show, The Wonderful World of Pigeons, has been interrupted by a droning letter “H”:
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Sesame St S5: Highlights #3
Kermit counts 4 eggs.
And today, we have even more highlights from Sesame Street‘s fifth season! The first one I watched for today’s post is another brief lecture from Kermit, this time about counting 4 eggs. As his demonstration goes on, however, each egg begins to hatch and a baby Muppet chick pops out, which subtly introduces the concept of subtraction. Then, he has 4 chicks to count, after which each wanders off one at a time, reiterating the lesson. It’s also particularly fun because the series of flustered expressions Kermit’s face goes through by the end reach practically epic heights. And you can watch all of them, along with the rest of the sketch of course, here!
I also watched another quick Kermit lecture, in which our intrepid frog
Read MoreSesame St S5: Highlights #2
Today, we continue on with more Season 5 highlights, beginning with a classic Sesame Street story-song by Joe Raposo, “The Ballad of Casey McPhee,” in which Cookie portrays a brave, stalwart train conductor delivering 6 carloads of cookies and ice cream through a snowy mountain pass in order to deliver them to children on the other side who need them for their birthday parties, the fact that he actually manages to avoid eating them a testament both to his impressive resolve and the fact that he’s playing a role here because the real Cookie might have had a great deal more trouble remaining focused on the task at hand and putting his own hunger aside for the sake of kids he doesn’t even know:
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Sesame St S5: Highlights
The “tall hat lady” blocks Ernie at the movies.
Today, we proceed with our first day of highlights from Season 5 of Sesame Street. As per usual, I watched the first set on the Sesame Street: Old School Volume 1 DVD set.
We begin with a classic Bert and Ernie at the Movies sketch, which also happens to be the one I remember best from childhood, in which a lady with an insanely tall, colorful hat with frills and feathers practically brushing the ceiling sits down right in front of Ernie, blocking him completely. Ernie tries various methods of looking around her, none of which work, and at one point even attempts to sit in a very frustrated Bert’s lap. Finally, Bert asks Ernie what’s wrong, he tells him the problem, and Bert suggests he kindly ask her to remove her hat. Ernie follows Bert’s advice, and the woman very graciously agrees to do so…and instead places her hat in the seat to her
Read MoreThe Muppets 1.10: “Single All the Way”
Kermit, donning now his gay apparel.
After the previous triumphantly, brilliantly Gonzo-centric episode, “Going, Going, Gonzo,” I was extremely happy with The Muppets, the show having done such a beautiful, seemingly effortless character rehabilitation for everyone’s favorite Whatever following shortly on the heels of its skillful rehab of Kermit in the 7th episode, “Pig’s in a Blackout,” and Miss Piggy in the 6th, “The Ex-Factor”. In addition to that, whereas some of the earlier installments had found some difficulty maintaining the right tonal balance, retaining the bite of the classic Muppets without losing their heart, these demonstrated a show finally getting a handle on both its characters and material. At the same time, the 8th episode, “Too Hot to Handler,” was a bit of a step backwards in quality, albeit far from damagingly so, but just enough to give me momentary pause over whether the show had indeed
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